Colorado Here We Come

Greetings one and all from Beautiful downtown Denver..home of the Big Blue Bear.

Yes, that really is a statue of a 40 foot tall blue bear peaking through the events center windows. It's the creation of a local artist who wanted to get people's attention. It certainly does! He got the idea by seeing people always looking through the window trying to see what's going on inside. Hey, bears can be curious too.

To be honest, I’m not finding Denver to be all that beautiful. Oh, the mountains in the distance are nice..but on the way here from the airport (which is so far away they should book separate flights) we drove past a few public areas that had more shopping carts than HyVee. They are the personal vehicles of hundreds and hundreds of homeless folks; carts they’ve confiscated to carry all their worldly possessions. I know it’s common in most every big city to have a lot of people who make their home on the streets, but I somehow pictured Denver, with its Rocky Mountain high reputation, lovely vistas and many cultural and sports attractions, to be different. Anyway, I’m not bad mouthing homeless people (but for the grace of God go a lot of us)..but I was surprised at the numbers. I’m told the city has a ten year plan in place to end homelessness in Denver. They’ve clearly got a ways to go to reach that goal.

Yes..Linda and I are traveling again: hosting the Keloland/Holiday Vacations Great California Train Adventure. It’s all aboard Saturday morning as we head into the Rockies on the California Zephyr. We’ll be on the train for two days and one night..arriving in Reno Sunday. I’m a little worried about squeezing my ample body into one of those berths, but Linda has promised that she’ll take the top bunk. At least we have a rest room in our compartment so when nature calls five times during the night I won’t have to bump into others trying to make my way to the community toilet down the hall.

We have 30 folks on this tour and everyone is excited about the days ahead traveling in the mountains of Colorado and Nevada by rail..then aboard a luxury motor coach down to San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Yes, we know how lucky we are to go on these trips. It would be fun to have you join us on the next one.

8 Comments

As to the shoping carts 60 mi north of Denver at FT Collins I have yet to see one except in Grocery stores. It is a beautiful city which has manageed to safe its downtown which on most days is full of people enjoying the small shops and cafes. In too many of our cities political corretness trumps common sense. Ill people should be in treatment and not living on the streets.

You’re right Doug! Watching those 2 pigeons walking around on the roof top from your window view has me convinced this is a first class deal. Sign Cupcake and me up for the next one! Will we get a discount for a room with a “bad” view.

Wish I were on the trip with you. I traveled with you through the Canadian Rockies last year (had a great time) and my Dad is with you on this one. Holiday Vacations is a great way to travel. Hope to be with you again on future trips. Have a great time on this one and keep us posted!

Entering a White Horse YT grocery store, we (trusting SD hicks) couldn’t figure out why their carts were chained up and all had a strange metal box thing on the handle. I’m sure the locals got a bang out of watching us try to pry one loose. We caught an employee and he nicely explained we need to insert a Canadian “Loonie” ($2 piece) in the slot on the handle to free up a cart. Our faces must have been blank at this statement so he patiently showed us we would get our money back when the cart got pushed back into the corral. We only assume they solved the disappearance of grocery carts.

I go to Minot in about 2 weeks to board the Empire Builder for Portland OR – can’t wait. Took the same to Seattle several years ago and absolutely loved it. I don’t fly (except sometimes with 4 wheels under me) so train travel is a treat. Love to drive but sometimes it is nice to just relax and look out the window. Hope you enjoy your trip as much as I know I’m going to enjoy mine.

PS – For those of you with a train trip on your ‘bucket list’, get on board. It’s cheap, easy travel. Minot to Portland and back is $284 – can’t beat it!